The Reborn Sidekick Rejected The Male Lead
Chapter 123 - 120: Best-selling Picture Books

Chapter 123: Chapter 120: Best-selling Picture Books

After Gao Qing left, Lu Jingqiu checked the time; it was already past two in the afternoon. She boiled a pot of hot water and placed it in the yard, preparing to give Hua Hua a bath, considering the belly, it should be within these few days.

Bathing a cat was a bit of a hassle, and it so happened that Xiao Shun and Xiao Yin, the two children, were at home. Hearing the commotion, they climbed up onto the wall and said, "Sister Xiao Qiu, you’re back."

Lu Jingqiu glared at them with annoyance: "Humph, tell me, was it your Ah Fu that made my Hua Hua pregnant?"

Xiao Shun closed his mouth guiltily; he indeed saw Ah Fu and Hua Hua rolling around together that day.

Xiao Yin said, "Sister Xiao Qiuqiu, if Hua Hua and Ah Fu have kittens, we will take responsibility."

Lu Jingqiu laughed out loud at this: "How would you take responsibility?"

The two children came down from the wall, went around the yard, and entered the house. Xiao Shun said, "Sister Xiao Qiu, how many kittens can Hua Hua have in this litter?"

Lu Jingqiu shook her head: "I don’t know, there could be two, or as many as six or seven."

Xiao Yin said, "Wow, that’s a lot, mom definitely won’t let us keep that many."

Xiao Shun felt worried and paused before saying, "Maybe I can ask my brothers to see if they would keep them."

Xiao Yin said, "Your brothers are always complaining about being hungry, how would they have anything to feed the kittens?"

Lu Jingqiu said, "Alright, let’s wait and see in a few days. If there are only a few, we’ll keep them at my house, if there are too many... we’ll see."

Seeing that Sister Xiao Qiu wasn’t angry anymore, the siblings eagerly helped bathe Hua Hua.

Once Hua Hua was out of the water, Xiao Shun said, "Sister Xiao Qiu’er, the summer series picture of me you drew is already published, I even cut it out. Everyone was so excited, they followed me and cut it out too. Sister Xiao Qiu, could you draw just me alone? I want to keep it as a collectible."

Xiao Yin also said, "I want one too."

Lu Jingqiu hadn’t had the chance to see the newspaper yet, but she figured it was about this week. Drawing portraits wasn’t hard for her, so she nodded and agreed, saying she would give it to them once finished.

Happy, the two of them bounced around the yard for a few rounds.

Lu Jingqiu put Hua Hua under the sun and took out a fan to blow on her, thankful that the weather was hot, otherwise, she really would blow a cold.

While blow-drying Hua Hua’s fur, Lu Jingqiu tidied up the vegetable garden a bit, harvesting the string beans that were ready, picking the smaller ones, then pulling out the seedlings. She couldn’t bring herself to remove the eggplants, so she decided to wait longer. In the yard, the two pumpkin plants had also produced quite a bit, and four or five large pumpkins had already turned yellow, ready to be used for millet pumpkin porridge in the winter.

By the time she finished all these tasks, it was already five or six o’clock.

Feeling Hua Hua’s fur, which was nearly dry, she moved her inside. Then she continued to use the fan on her, but the little guy wouldn’t stay still, so Lu Jingqiu covered her with a perforated bamboo basket.

After that, she sorted out the string beans she had harvested, blanched them in a pot, and laid them out in the yard to dry, saving them for winter.

...

Not long ago, Xue Jianian followed Wei Jincheng back to his hometown, right in the midst of the harvest season. With the help of her grandfather, they gathered plenty of grains, poultry, and even a lot of seafood.

Xue Jianian didn’t want her grandparents to suffer working in fields, so she bought them a small courtyard in the county town and even found a job for her grandfather as a security guard for a factory.

Their village wasn’t far from the county town, and there were direct buses available. Because the village was close to the sea, there were transport teams regularly hauling seafood, making transportation very convenient.

To prevent her from worrying, her grandfather took her grandmother to the county town. Xue Jianian had space for planting in her own space, so before leaving, she left her grandparents plenty of grains, two hundred yuan, and many tickets.

Grandpa worked as a gatekeeper for the factory, earning twenty yuan a month; they didn’t need to buy food, and there was some money at home, so the elderly couple’s life was quite comfortable, and Xue Jianian felt at ease.

After Wei Jincheng finished investigating his own background, he returned to his military unit with mixed feelings. Before school started, Xue Jianian frequented the Black Market a little more often.

Today, she unexpectedly ran into the comrade who had saved her back then. He was at the Black Market selling scarves and watches along with a partner.

Xue Jianian waited outside the Black Market for the man, and he was quite surprised to see Xue Jianian when he appeared.

To express her gratitude for his lifesaving help, she specially invited him for a meal, and when they parted, she also gave him a chicken and a duck.

Wu Zhengran looked at the items in Gangzi’s hands and said, "This is Wei Jincheng’s fiancée?"

"Absolutely certain, if not for her, I wouldn’t have come back so late."

Wu Zhengran said, "Brother, thanks for helping me out that time; your job was almost lost because of it."

"Brother Wu, what’re we talking about, you and me? I’m already happy doing business with you; it’s much better than having a job. Whenever you’re planning something, remember to keep me in mind."

Wu Zhengran patted his shoulder and said, "Over the holidays, I’ll get involved in some more trading with others. Let’s make more money next time. This time we didn’t have much money, so we could only deal with small items. My classmate is rich and always deals with profitable goods that sell well."

"Sounds good."

...

Lu Jingqiu only remembered today that she needed to collect the room rent from Xue Jianian, planning to visit in the afternoon. As she had some free time in the morning, she went to the publishing house.

Zhang Miao saw her coming and hurriedly pulled her aside, "Jingqiu, I thought you should be coming back, and I was planning to visit you in the next few days, but you came first."

"Sister Miaomiao, is there something up?"

Zhang Miao handed her two just-published picture books, one named "Twenty-Four Solar Terms" and the other "I Can Do It": "These two sold very well this summer, especially ’I Can Do It.’ Its national sales have been pretty good; the chief editor is planning another print run. You’ve come at the right time; quickly go see Deputy Editor Yang to sign another contract for the reprint."

"Ah, nationally?" Lu Jingqiu hadn’t expected the sales to be so good.

When Deputy Editor Yang saw her, his smile was quite brilliant.

"Jingqiu, you’ve finally come back. If you hadn’t, I would have started waiting at your doorstep."

"Deputy Editor Yang, I’ve only been back for two days. Actually, I came today to hang out with Editors Zhang and Luo."

"You’ve come at just the right time."

Deputy Editor Yang presented the past two months’ sales summary for "Twenty-Four Solar Terms": "Just last month, publishing houses around the country ordered a hundred thousand copies. Now, some regions have already started urging us for more copies, and we are preparing to print another fifty thousand. Here’s the contract; take a look at it."

Lu Jingqiu glanced over the contract briefly. It was standardized, and she trusted the publishing house, so she simply signed her name.

Deputy Editor Yang then took her to the finance department, which approved five hundred yuan for her, covering the previous batch’s fee and this one’s as well.

"I Can Do It" had even better sales than "Twenty-Four Solar Terms" — in one month it had sold one hundred and twenty thousand copies, and orders from various places had reached a hundred thousand copies.

The publisher had discussed and decided to reward their editing department, as well as the illustration department, with ten yuan each and two catties of brown sugar.

As a major contributor, Lu Jingqiu naturally wasn’t left out. Her reward wasn’t just ten yuan; she also received an additional fifteen yuan from above, plus two catties of brown sugar, and three feet of cloth coupons.